Soledad Puértolas

Puertolas is, apparently, a very highly regarded writer in Spain, a member of its Royal Academy. This is, I think, her only work in English. The book is a collection of three stories, each of which is tied to the others by a character or two. The write-up on Goodreads strikes me as largely accurate and I will paraphrase it: Bordeaux traces the fates of three people: an elderly woman living a solitary life; a Frenchman involved in unfulfilling relationships; and a young American woman show more traveling in Europe. Their stories intersect in seemingly random yet revealing ways, gradually forming a complex social portrait. Unifying all their stories are the themes of loneliness, restlessness, and the search for meaning in a world in which neither the past nor the present offers firm answers or lasting consolations. Ultimately disappointing, though I would be interested in reading other works by her because of her adeptness at creating characters. show less

Despite being under 200 pages this took me a long, long time to finish. Maybe it's the fact it was originally written in Spanish (Soledad Puertolas is one of Spain's most acclaimed writers). I'm thinking maybe something got lost in the translation. That's always possible. I found the whole storyline to be choppy, disjointed, even abrupt in some places. It was if Puertolas took three short stories and tied them together by location. On the surface all three chapters focus on a single show more character located in the same city. They all have Bordeaux, France in common. It's the villa that apparently ties these stories together.
First, there is Pauline Duvivier, an lonely elderly woman asked to do a favor outside her comfort zone - something scandalous involving adultery and blackmail. As the reader you really don't get the whole picture. Then, there is Rene Dufour. He is unlucky in love, worse in relationships of any kind. You can't help but feel sorry for him and wondering what's wrong with him. The last character, Lilly Skalnick, is a young American traveling through Europe. She's just as lost as the rest of them. As each character is introduced and explored it is hard to ignore the social portrait being drawn. Every character is lost, lonely, searching for something or someone to satisfy an unknown longing. show less

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